Saïd Taghmaoui

Saïd Taghmaoui's humble beginnings can be traced back to Villepinte, Seine-Saint-Denis, where he was born into a large Moroccan family of Berber ancestry. He, along with his four brothers and three sisters, grew up in the Rose des Vents quartier of the Aulnay-sous-Bois commune. Prior to his acting career, Taghmaoui had a promising stint as a boxer, ranking as high as No. 2 in his weight class in France. His acting journey began when he met actor and director Mathieu Kassovitz and together they appeared in La Haine (1995). This performance earned Taghmaoui a César Award nomination in the Most Promising Actor category. Since then, his acting prowess has crossed national borders, with roles in films from Germany, Italy, Morocco, and the United States. He also played the leader of a terrorist group in Vantage Point (2008) and appeared in Djinns (2010), a film about the Algerian War. In addition to films, his remarkable oeuvre also extends to TV shows such as Lost, House of Saddam, and Touch. Taghmaoui is a practising Muslim and migrated to the United States in 1999, gaining American citizenship in 2008.